Smoke, and gas, detectors are lifesaving devices that greatly increase the likelihood of surviving a fire in a building. Generally, these detection devices sense smoke, carbon dioxide or other noxious and toxic airborne substances, and, in response, sound a piercing alarm, or flash an intense strobe light, to alert the occupants of the building to the dangerous condition. For residential structures, the occupants may be sleeping and difficult to rouse. For example, young children often fail to wake during mock fire drills, due, in part, to their ability to fall asleep even in the noisiest environments. Older adults may also be insensitive to external environmental queues when sleeping.
The standard smoke detector's audible alarm often fails to wake these individuals quickly enough to avoid injury. In a building fire, or in other dangerous conditions, a device that quickly and consistently wakes up sleeping occupants may mean the difference between life and death.